Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"In Our Secret Society, Tanisha Ford expertly uses the extravagant life of Mollie Moon to tell the hidden history of the Civil Rights Movement: a complicated tale of how the movement was funded. Captivating. Gripping. Smart." — Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning "In Our Secret Society, Tanisha Ford chronicles the exhilarating life of Mollie Moon. With cinematic sweep and methodological innovation, Ford brilliantly challenges received narratives of black politics and imaginatively forges new ways of knowing and understanding social movements and the little known but indispensable roles Black women like Moon have played in them. This book is beautifully written, with the passion, wit and style of its subject. A stunning accomplishment." — Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of the award-winning Read Until You Understand "A vivid behind-the-scenes snapshot of a dazzling era." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “In Our Secret Society, Tanisha Ford follows the money and reveals an astonishing, untold story of Black women who drove the civil rights movement by commanding the Black freedom financial grid. Following the escapades of the captivatingly brilliant Mollie Lewis Moon…this dazzlingly told rise and fall of the movement’s ‘bag women’ – savvy, sensational, but also burned by sexism – is a tale for our own times about the hazards of mixing politics and philanthropy in the interest of Black liberation.” — Martha Jones, author of Vanguard “In Our Secret Society, Mollie Moon finally gets long overdue credit for the critical role she played in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. Writing with care and passion, Tanisha Ford shows how Moon combined her commitment to activism with her love of the social whirl and emerged as a fundraising genius…This is an essential read that broadens our understanding of the centrality of Black women in the movement. Ford’s work is as brilliant, as lively, and as gorgeous as Mollie Moon herself.” — Jill Watts, author of The Black Cabinet "This riveting, beautifully-crafted investigation of the money moves of the Civil Rights Movement’s “bag women” shows Tanisha Ford, one of our nation’s top historians, at her absolute finest. Here is the rare text that celebrates the working-class—small dollar donors that made a movement possible—while reminding us of the intellectual prowess and political savvy of the Black women power brokers who put their community’s money to its highest uses: the pursuit of Black freedom." — Brittney Cooper, New York Times Bestselling author of Eloquent Rage
